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Today I bring you Stila Cosmetics Forever Your Curl Mascara from my May Beauty Bar Sample Society box. It has been quite awhile since I’ve had a mascara sample for you, mostly because I have really been enjoying the mascara and that I’ve been using. I will definitely be sharing this product with you in the very near future and I am nearing the 3 month mark. I did want to make sure that I reviewed this mascara in a timely manner along with other products from the May Beauty Bar Sample Society box. So how did the sample perform?

This product is intended to bring curl to your lashes. Unfortunately, this is not a waterproof mascara. I have found that waterproof mascaras are very important to me, they seem to last much longer and with less leaking than almost any non-waterproof mascara. Did this fit that the non-waterproof mascara stereotype?

A little, while it doesn’t flake as bad as most of the other mascaras I’ve tried, it also does tend to wash off especially during allergy season when my eyes get a little bit more teary anyway. The color is a true black and that is perfect. I like how my lashes feel with this mascara on, it doesn’t feel like there’s mascara on my lashes, it just feels like my lashes are there. How does it curl? Okay, I definitely still need to use an eyelash curler with this product, however it holds the curl better than most of the other mascaras I’ve ever tried. It also separates the lashes very nicely and there isn’t any clumping or spider legs.

Before After

Would I buy this product again? Maybe, it is really nice for a non-waterproof mascara, however, I really would like to find it waterproof mascara that feels this natural on my lashes so I don’t have to compromise one thing for another.

Will I finish this sample? Probably, it is a really nice mascara and there’s no need to discard something that’s useful like that. I will probably keep it at work for when I run out of time in the morning.

FTC Disclaimer: Not affiliated with nor compensated by Beauty Bar Sample Society or any of the brands included in the box. Not affiliated with nor compensated by UPS. Items purchased by me for my own personal use. For more information please review my disclosure policy.

Today I bring you my two biggest disappointments of my March Birchboxes.

In the Teen Vogue Birchbox I received Kate Spade New York Twirl which is a fragrance I have received previously on my other account. I did not like it then and I still do not now. I know that it has some initial fruity scents but after it lingers all I smell from it is musk…which I do not like. As I’ve mentioned before I do think that Birchbox would do well to ask us about our fragrance preferences..I have consistently disliked the fragrances they have chosen for me. Oh well, the rest of the samples usually prove delightful so I won’t complain too much.

In the standard Birchbox I received still Smoky Eye Shadow sample. This was a disappointment because it was a cardboard sheet with one use of shadow to it. These are the sorts of samples I have received from Sephora in the “3 free samples with order” or from the companies themselves. It is strictly one use and if you mess up you don’t have enough to redo the sample. I’d much rather get a itty bitty pan where I have a chance to use it 3 or 4 times and play with it I don’t expect full size products in a sample box, but I do what samples I can actually try.

Now luckily, I am familiar with still and the longevity of their shadows and the normal texture, so I can vouch that these are nice eyeshadows. The First color is Kitten, which is their version of Urban Decay’s Sin but with a little more of a shimmer – I already have a full size of this one that I purchased a few months ago. Then is an olive green/gray/taupe shimmer called Diamond lil. From what I can tell it is a nice color that would be a perfect transition between Kitten and ebony (the black color. Ebony is a matte black. I personally prefer the texture of Urban Decay’s Blackout but this one is not bad, and again it is fairly hard to tell from the tiny sample; it might be better in a pan. I think this look would be nice and glamorous and easy to go from day to night by just adding a little more black.

Would I buy it again? Twirl – no, Stila – probably but not because of this sample but because I know and like the brand.

Will I finish the sample? Twirl – I already discarded it, Stila – I nearly finished the sample with just swatching it. so there isn’t enough left to do a look with.

As part of my January Birchbox I received stila Smudge stick in Blue Ribbon. This was my absolute favorite part of the January box. This by itself was worth $20.00 making the birchbox fully worth every penny of the $10.00 I paid for it.

So what do I think of the smudge stick? I love it, I love nearly everything about it. Lets start with my one and only complaint. The packaging. I could not get the pencil tip to extend at first, and then once I did it jumped out a lot and broke off about 1/4 inch of the pencil. The important stuff? This smudge stick goes on incredibly smooth. There is a tiny bit of glitter in this particular color but you don’t really see it on the eye. On the eye it has a pearl like sheen.

The color (Blue Ribbon) is unbelievable. It is the perfect blue for me. It is a blue grey. It kinda reminds me of the skies in Seattle. It doesn’t detract from my actual eye color at all like many blue products do. The grey in it also makes it perfect for not looking too flashy at work.

Stila claims the smudge stick is waterproof. It made it through a full shower without movement at all. Even after patting my face dry after the shower it stayed on like a champ.

I now have a new go-to pencil style eyeliner. I am still partial to my cream/gels but this is a close second.

What is your favorite eyeliner?

FTC Disclaimer: Not affiliated with nor compensated by Birchbox or any of the brands included in the box. Items purchased by me for my own personal use. For more information please review my disclosure policy.

Yay! My January Birchbox just arrived on the 24th! It stinks that it took so long, but I suppose that is the deal you get when Mother Nature throws you her worst. We were snowed in for nearly a week and without power for a couple days but this and my other samples all have made the month much more tolerable.

Don’t worry I will do a review of each of the products (except the granola and the fragrance which I will describe here).